Union leaders say Oct. 17 could be last day of work for Y-12 workers

Wednesday

Oct 9, 2013 at 10:52 AM

Steve Jones, president of the Atomic Trades and Labor Council, has reportedly stated that union leaders were told Oct. 17 — next Thursday — will be the last day of work for most Y-12 workers unless a budget agreement comes between now and then.

staff & wire reports

Steve Jones, president of the Atomic Trades and Labor Council, has reportedly stated that union leaders were told Oct. 17 — next Thursday — will be the last day of work for most Y-12 workers unless a budget agreement comes between now and then.

Pointing to the federal stalemate in Washington, D.C., and the government shutdown that has entered its second week, B&W Y-12 president and general manager Chuck Spencer shared with Y-12 employees Monday that he has received direction from the acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration “to initiate an orderly shutdown in support of, at a minimum, obtaining safe and secure status.”

Additionally, Thom Mason, the director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, reportedly told his employees Monday that ORNL, too, has begun to prepare for “possible temporary shutdown.”

Mason said the lab continues to operate with carry-over money from Fiscal Year 2013, but he said the longer the government shutdown lasts the less flexibility ORNL has to carry out its missions.

“We currently project ORNL’s carry-over will allow us to operate through October and into November,” Mason said in a message to lab employees. “However, soon thereafter, furloughs will be required — and all of us should prepare to go without pay during a furlough period.”

If not entirely averted, Spencer said Monday that he hopes the need for furloughs at the Y-12 National Security Complex will be “short-lived.”

“This is the same situation that many folks elsewhere in the government have already been experiencing,” Spencer stated to his workers. “Human Resources is developing answers to address what we realize will be very valid and important questions about benefits and other concerns during this time.”

The Y-12 chief said an All-Hands Meeting to discuss the situation further was scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 8.

It’s anticipated that if the budget impasse isn’t resolved soon it will likely require furloughs at other local U.S. Department of Energy operations, including the environmental cleanup activities managed by URS/CH2M Oak Ridge, perhaps better known throughout the Oak Ridge community as UCOR.

Allen Schubert, a UCOR spokesman, said earlier this week he had no updated information on the funding situation. Last week, he said cleanup operations, including the demolition of the old K-25 Building, were continuing despite the government shutdown.

Atomic Trades and Labor Council president Jones said this week’s shutdown order at Y-12 is just the latest in a series of crises that have created anxiety and uncertainty among workers. He cited the July 2012 break-in by three older “activists” at the Y-12 Plant, which prompted a temporary shutdown of nuclear operations and extensive retraining on security issues, as well as the long-standing delay on the transition of contractors.

(A $22 billion contract for the combined management of Y-12 and Pantex was awarded in January to Consolidated Nuclear Security, a partnership of Bechtel and Lockheed Martin. But the implementation of that contract has stalled because of protests by losing bidders.)

In addition to the 4,813 B&W Y-12 workers at the Oak Ridge site, Jones said he’s been told by some Y-12 subcontractors that their employees also are expected to be furloughed after Oct. 17 — which is a Thursday. Most employees at Y-12 work 4/10 schedules — four days a week, 10 hours a day Monday through Thursday.

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In related news, an Oct. 22 public hearing in Knoxville to discuss nuclear safety at the Y-12 Plant and safety issues related to the Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 reportedly has been indefinitely postponed by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

Spokesperson Andy Thibadeau confirmed the board voted late Monday to postpone the all-day meeting because of uncertainties regarding the federal budget.

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B&W Y-12, a limited liability enterprise of The Babcock and Wilcox Company and Bechtel National Inc., operates the Y-12 National Security Complex for the National Nuclear Security Administration.